History and Description
In 1986, Clarke founded The English Players, a touring opera ensemble. Clarke's productions for that company included English-language adaptations of Love in a Village (which toured as far as Denver, Colorado), Boieldieu’s The Caliph of Bagdad and Abu Hassan (two one-act operas presented together), Il mondo della luna and Robinson Crusoé. After four years, Clark disbanded The English Players while he planned for a new, better-funded company.
With the help of marketer and versatile theatre professional Graham Watson, Clarke established Opera della Luna as a registered charity with a board of directors and a base of regular supporters. The company's name was intended to convey its zany style of adaptation. The company's first production, in 1994, was Robinson Crusoé. Plagued by transit strikes, the show lost money. Clarke and friends made up part of the deficit by playing evenings of music hall concerts.
Read more about this topic: Opera Della Luna
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